Kumbha Mela in Allahabad expected to attract over 45 crores pilgrims from all over India

Kumbha Mela in Allahabad expected to attract over 45 crores pilgrims from all over India

Next month starts one of the biggest and most colourful festivals of the country. The Kumbha Mela held at the confluence of the sacred rivers at Allahabad, which occurs once in every 12 years, is expected to attract over 45 crores of pilgrim-bathers from all over the country. India Today previews the festival and the arrangements now in progress.

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April 20, 2015

ISSUE DATE: December 31, 1976

UPDATED: April 22, 2015 14:18 IST

Bathers coming for premature purification

Billed as the "Greatest Show on Earth", the gargantuan Kumbha Mela, slated to open on January 5 as its traditional locale of the sangam in Allahabad city, is currently undergoing a traumatic transformation, with an army of construction workers feverishly trying to complete the massive, elaborate arrangements before the influx of an estimated 47 million pilgrims from every corner of the country.

The preparations for this year's mela (the Kumbha comes around once in every 12 years) would make P.T. Barnum turn over in his grave. The State government is spending an estimated Rs. 65 million on the arrangements, and India Today dispatched a photographer to the site to obtain a first-hand, pictorial review of the situation.

This year's mela, considered to be the most auspicious in 144 years, is expected to attract a record number of visitors, and consequently, the fair has a number of firsts to its credit.

Preparing for the crowds

Most of the arrangements have been tailored on the recommendations of the Justice K. Verma's commission set up to probe into the tragic circumstances of the 1954 - Kumbha Mela, where riots led to over 300 pilgrims being trampled to death. For the first time this year 8,000 policemen and 125 mounted police will be equipped with wireless sets, and will patrol the entire 2,600 acre field which constitutes the mela area.

Also for the first time, the organizers are spending a massive 75 lakhs for health and sanitation measures, with 25 lakhs being earmarked for ensuring that sewage does not enter the sacred waters of the Ganges.

Closed-circuit television will be introduced to ensure the smooth flow of traffic, and arrangements have also been made to move about 500 resident lepers outside the mela area, and special enclosures constructed to segregate 5,000 professional beggars who are expected to flock to the mela.

This, however, is not going to be an easy task. A majority of the beggars are old pros, who will probably arrive at the fair disguised as sadhus. Being a predominantly religious festival, it will be almost impossible to weed out the genuine from the fake. "The only way we can handle this problem is to keep an eye on those seen begging, and quietly whisk them away at night," said the senior Superintendent of Police, in charge of the police force.

The only digression from Justice Verma's recommendations is the setting up of residential colonies inside the mela area. Three such colonies - for VIP's, foreign tourists and for the Press - are already in the final stages of completion. For the benefit of foreign correspondents, the organizers are providing another first - commodes.

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